Artist Interview // PRISCILLA YU

Priscilla Yu is a multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator based in Vancouver, BC Canada. Her work is a combination of visually-learned geometry and perspective, intuitive colour decisions, and personal narratives.

Photograph of artist by Shannyn Higgins

Priscilla Yu is one of the artists in the Journey-scapes art exhibition at the Gene Siskel in conjunction with the FAAIM 21st Annual Asian American Showcase April 1st through 14th, 2016. We asked her a few questions about her work and artistic journey!

What/Who inspires you?

Priscilla Yu: I'm inspired by a lot. I'm inspired by nature; the geometry, the beauty, and the systems within it, and I'm inspired by other creative people. I'm inspired by all the artists, illustrators, designers, musicians, and actors around me who are also pursuing their craft.

Priscilla Yu: For a long time, people were always telling me that my paintings would look good on clothing, or that I should do something involved with fashion. So right now, I am working on a personal project, creating a series of clothing inspired by a series of of paintings. Each piece of clothing will be inspired by an aspect from the world within the paintings. I'm still at the experimenting stage with producing these items. I've been experimenting with dye-sublimation printing on polyester. It's kind of fun making the kind of clothing that the beings in my paintings wear, for actual people.

Priscilla Yu: My artistic journey has been simultaneously thrilling, satisfying, and bumpy. It's always been really exciting to see what can come out of my brain and onto paper or canvas. I love experiencing that magic of feeling creativity and getting lost in a piece. My art has also connected me to a lot of people whom I love. I also love the learning involved in each project that I do.

On the other hand, I also experience 'impostor syndrome' from time to time. This is where there's this sense of self-doubt, where I feel like, "I'm a fake artist. Do people know that? People are giving me actual money for my thoughts and creativity?" It's super funny, and I'm getting better at not letting that get too out of hand and make me anxious. Overall, my artist journey has been very enriching.